Smoke detector alarms may be triggered by cooking, incense, or other sources that are not dangerous. Often, the smoke detector is on the ceiling and requires a ladder to reach. This is inconvenient and potentially dangerous. In addition, nothing is more annoying than going to bed and hearing a low battery chirp.
Another problem is that once a low battery chirp occurs, because it is so infrequent, it is often very difficult to identify where the chip originated, particularly with multiple devices in a home or business.
Silencing smoke detectors is currently done by pressing a button on the detector to mute the device for a period of time or, in some cases, by a remote control. In all cases, a user needs to either go to the device or find the remote control to silence the alarm or low battery chirp. Often, the quickest way to silence a false alarm is to open the detector case and remove the battery. Removing the battery is dangerous because if the battery is not replaced, then no protection is provided.